Despite me wearing a mask of confidence I was uncertain if I would even be allowed an attack. And I use 'allowed' instead of 'pulling off' becuase that's exactly what I feel from him. It's not a drowning bloodlust or a swirl of energy emanating that I get from him but an imposing aura, not made of malice or even consciously, this was simply the aura of someone living in a different world than the common folk. Was this perhaps a glimpse to how the first nobles came to be? What was required of them to rise in the hierarchy and stake their claim to political power? Is this the level I need to reach for my voice to carry its weight?

luisent: I hereby swear than you shall not die tonight for you are Eliza's daughter and that I will not use my full strength in this duel.

"In that case I do hereby swear that I shall not embarrass you greatly in front of Eliza."

Big words spoken that held no true claim whatsoever. With a large audible gulp I held my wand high and he responded in kind by raising his sword, blade still hidden inside it's sheath. He let me to make the first move, courtesy of his strength or whatever, given how he didn't moved from his position no matter how much time passed. Having said that I don't know whether this attitude will finish when I start chanting or when I complete my chant.

Well no reason to delay the inevitable. My first, or better yet my 'officially' first, move was none other than to shift my body backwards, in order to create more distance between the two of use while I started chanting, it was going to be a long one, longer than the average duel lasted I suppose but still it was the better solution. What I needed to do right now was avoid his attacks while not losing focus on the chant... Yeah let's just surrender.

My only saving grace was Cadence's proficiency with chant's, literally hitting the right notes with nothing more than a gasp, reciting the chant's under her breath. Not that I had any time, or brain power, to thank her since the luisent took that as the official start of our duel and lunged at me. His response time was nothing sort of impressive but then again that was what I was betting on, him responding to my move without realizing what I was actually doing. My body may be leaning backwards but my feet were solidly touching the ground, my footwork allowing for a swift shift of my upper body's position and for me to jump headfirst toward the luisent.

Even if his face didn't get colored by surprise, I had already achieved my plan of messing with his spacing at just the right moment. He did tried to swing his sword at me but it was interrupted early by my right hand which held the wand while my left moved around the luisent's neck. Raising my legs from the ground I dragged him down with me. My legs spread open I hit the ground with my back and before I let him react two moves took place, firstly I 'tied' my right elbow joint around my left wrist still clutching the wand and chanting. secondly my legs locked around his waist.

I didn't had the strength to strangle him. Even if I press with all my might I doubt that I would be able to render him unconscious. This was a trial of endurance, of putting my effort in keeping strong through his struggle, until my chant was ready. Even then I did not expected my hold to be broken so quickly, even the best of my abilities was not enough to contain him, I'll take it that my best is far from being good enough and even further from being where I want it. While he was getting back on his feet I jumped up from my back, even if it lacked the strength this body was youthful enough to pull those movements.

My job had gotten considerably harder as I moved in the offensive, circling around him and throwing faints to correct his position. He knew how to hold a poker face but I could tell from his stance that he was reluctant to retaliate, I guess after being held down by someone half his size it was imperative that he didn't fell in a grab twice. That's why he closed himself off, leaving no gaps for my while jumping around him. During a ring fight, in general, whoever stands in the middle holds an advantage. They can easily spin into proper position and respond to an attack from any angle while their opponent exerts more energy moving around. To that I answer 'this ain't the ring, bitch'. I unleash my chant and with it my mouth moved on its own.

"Hail 2 U."

Like a torrent, it rushed down from atop his head dousing him body with water. Despite a chant like this existing people still relied in 'natural' sources of water, opening wells and the like. If I had to guess of a reason I suppose it would be simplicity. Sure opening a well it's hard work but it only needs to happen once for it to easily provide for the times to come. Surely you wouldn't have the need of a well if you perfectly chant every time but for Cadence to reach that level it took her the best teacher a comte could buy and her own obsession. Repetition can make it so chanting is easier than drawing water from a well but until that routine is established if a more convenient alternative is available anyone with half a working brain will tend to choose the easier path. Of course all that are thoughts that came right out of my ass given that Cadence wasn't part of the 'common folk' there is no way for me to know what relationship chanting has with the people.

Well back on topic, this chant in particular created nothing more or less than a large ball of water. It didn't had any trajectory or velocity, for that fact it didn't even had any higher viscosity than normal so the 'ball' part didn't really lasted for a long time after the chant was finished, just a bunch of water to wash the floor with. And now all that water had doused the luisent.

luisent: Was that your grand plan? To get me soaked?

"I'll let you figure that out."

It was time, in one swift move I closed the distance between the two of us. It seems that the luisent didn't took part during the expeditions and thus made a grave miscalculation, he exerted the same force as before in order to move. The water that his clothes managed to soak was enough to weight him down, slowing his actions, and for me to jump in and slap him with the back of my hand. As much as I would like to say that I won on a knock out with my absolute awesome technique he had barely flinched from my attack. When you are trapped in a predicament like this, where your attack doesn't work all you have to do is add more attack, until you give them irreversible brain damage. And all the while I started preparing the next chant.

By the time he adjusted his strength I had manage to pull of three good hits, I say 'good' but that's entirely by my standards, from what I'm seeing it didn't affect him much. And as the saying goes 'nothing's free' by putting all my strength behind those punches now my body has started to complain, hands hanging from my shoulders like dead vines. Yeah, this is my limit, I will not be winning this fight.

luisent: I have to say you really...

Out of nowhere a fourth presence entered realm, right beside me. My right hand moved on its own, almost like a reflex, upwards from the elbow hitting her in the hands, forcing her to leave the knife embedded in me. That's right, I got stabbed. Lana was here. As I was falling to the ground I could do nothing but shout.

"Take Eliza and run!"

luisent: but!...

I could hear the worry in his voice, even he was caught off guard. I suppose Lana's spell is by far too strong.

"GO!"

He rushed over to Eliza and fortunately reached her before Lana. With a swift move he grabbed her by the waist, picked her in his arms and off they went, out of realm before I even realized it. There was something about the luisent, something weird about his wavelength but I wasn't able to gather much data in my current predicament with what little time he was exposed under realm. Not that it was my main concern anyway.

Lana: I didn't know you were so eager to die. Oh! worry not I will make sure your death will be a very long and painful process.

Is that why she didn't aimed for a lethal area to stab me. In order to fulfill her hedonistic dreams of vengeance. Well that's going to be your downfall.

Lana: Tell me how does laying on the ground?

"Don't you already know?"

Slam. my face was met by her boot. She hit me hard enough to brake my nose.

"Do you want me to look like you?"

Her face was covered by bandages, I'm sure that underneath laid no sight for pure eyes to see, after all that was my handiwork. Her answer was to pummel my face under her foot. After she got her feel she squatted down on me. This I could see only through realm since I doubt my face could be called one anymore. The taste of blood strong in my mouth, filling my nose, my vision had disappeared, the pain so intense that it makes me want to scream. Not even reconstructive surgery will be able to fix Lana's work.

Lana: That felt good but we're far from over. Time to pay you back in kind.

She held her wand right in front of my face, I had an inkling as to want she was planning. Sure enough the chant she chose was one of fire. What could I do? I was in no condition to chant and my spells wouldn't work since she stayed stationary, I could barely stay focused enough to keep conscious. My mind was empty, brain throbbing from the impacts, my body unwilling to move, was this truly the end of the line? My only bet is to leave it all up to him now.

As she was about to realize her chant something flew into realm in a speed that even I couldn't track but Lana was different, at the last second she jumped back, making an otherwise lethal strike land on her shoulder. Once again she evaded death but at least it interrupted her chant. Seeing as her chance to kill me got ruined she retreated back into nothingness leaving the luisent to constantly scouting his surroundings.

luisent: As I vowed you shall not die tonight."

Even my sight from realm grew weaker, my connection to this world had started to truly fade until there was nothing left. They say that your life flashes before your eyes at your final moments, in my case the ten or so days I was actually conscious made for a very short experience that left me surrounding by nothing. This deafening nothingness made me reminisce of the blinding warmth I felt when I was born. What would I trade to be there rather than here. Or that was what I felt in the beginning, slowly the nothingness seized existing as energy permeated the environment it started as barely noticeable, droplets of water in a morning haze and it only grew from there as time passed. From a droplet to a devouring torrent, one thing was clear from its movement and concentration, it was very violent, as if filled with rage and ready to devour anything that stood in its path.

This energy, somehow it had a will of its own, contradicted everything that I knew and yet I was standing in the midst of it all. For the first time in my life curiosity was equalized by fear as my mind focused on the energy, in the pure desire of finding out what caused this phenomenon. If the afterlife looked like this then maybe death wasn't so bad.